Thursday, February 19, 2015

"The Chosen Prince"

Diane Stanley is the author and illustrator of more than fifty books for children, noted especially for her series of award-winning picture book biographies. Her novels for older readers include Saving Sky, Bella at Midnight, The Mysterious Matter of I. M. Fine, and the Silver Bowl Trilogy, The Silver Bowl, The Cup and the Crown, and The Princess of Cortova.

I turned to page 69 of The Chosen Prince and found myself at the beginning of an important scene—which was just getting up to speed but definitely hadn’t gotten there yet. It’s mostly dialogue between two people you wouldn’t know about a situation you wouldn’t understand out of context. So I cheated by flipping back to the previous scene:

Alexos watches his father with something akin to awe. How does the king maintain such incredible control? He sets the laurel crown on the oily, sweaty brow of a peasant lad who has just defeated a host of young aristocrats—and does not look amazed. His son and heir, the future savior of Arcos, has publicly shamed and disappointed him—and he shows no anger or despair. Teo is weeping and making a scene. Ektor ignores him. He goes through the ceremony of praise to the goddess in a calm and dignified manner. He acknowledges the cheering crowd of commoners, delirious with pride that one of their own has won the laurel crown, and guides young Peles of Attaros to his proper place for the procession back to the palace.

Never once does he show any feeling at all.
Never once does he look at his son.

This scene is definitely representative of the book. It even highlights one of the major themes, the striving son who can never live up to his father’s expectations. Reading that snippet would definitely make me curious and willing to take a second look. So at least it passes the Page 67 test.